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Stammering* 




PREFACE. 

The object of this little book is to present such infor- 
mation as will aid the victim of stammering or stuttering 
in overcoming his disagreeable impediment. In pursuance 
of our plan we have collected together what seem to be the 
most sensible theories regarding the nature and causes of 
these vocal blemishes, and also the methods for overcoming 
them which appear most sound in theory and successful in 
practice. 

There have been many works published on these subjects, 
many treatises written, and often very conflicting are the 
views of these writers. Countless remedies are advised by 
a countless number of advisers, nearly all of whom appear 
to believe they have discovered some infallible mode of 
treatment. Many of these plans involve surgical operations 
which are often dangerous, and their efficacy seeus almost 
wholly imaginary. These will be referred to in a subse- 
quent part ot this book. Malformations of the organs of 
speech are so extremely rare, and appear to really have so 
little to do with stammering or stuttering that it is safe to 
set down all methods of cure by operations upon these 
organs as fallacious and dangerous, so far as they concern 
these defects of speech. The simpler modes of treatment 
appear most successful in practice, and we have endeavored 
to present the best of these. We make no claim to origin- 
ality in this volume — there is but little that is absolutely 
new herein. We prefer to give those systems which have 
been tested, rather than any new but unproved theories or 
systems whose only plea would be originality. Such things 
often appear very plausible, but plausibility should go for 
naught if not backed by practical success. 

It is not pretended that there is any u cure " in this 
book which will prove effective in every case. The plans 
of treatment presented in the following pages have all 
proved successful m some cases. This gives fair ground 
for the belief that their virtue will extend to new cases. 
Something must be left to the discretion of the patient him- 



Vi. PREFACE. 

self in the selection of the special treatments of his own 
case, and he should not allow himself to become discouraged 
even should the plan selected prove unsuccessful in his 
individual case. Among the various methods presented 
herewith, we believe nearly all persons will find their re- 
quirements met, and we firmly believe that the reader's 
trouble may be overcome by one or another of these. 

Regarding the subject of self cure some authors oppose 
its possibility, but it is noteworthy that these writers, so 
far as our knowledge goes, are all devoted to the treatment 
of stammering as a profession, consequently are perhaps 
naturally inclined to advocate the necessity of the patient 
placing himself under professional treatment and guidance. 
We believe we have sufficient authority for saying that this 
is unnecessary in the majority of cases, and that self cure 
may be reasonably hoped for as a general rule, if the pa- 
tient will exercise his will, and without the exercise of the 
will we doubt his cure by any professional or by any 
method. 

Prevention is said to be better than cure, and doubtless 
stammering and stuttering, as well as other slighter peculi- 
arities and defects of speech could be almost wholly avoided 
if the habit were never formed. In this belief we earnestly 
direct the attention of parents and teachers to the remarks 
in subsequent pages relating to the early acquisition of these 
habits by children, and to other kindred items. 

Experience seems to prove that it is merely waste of 
money to invest in any pretended mechanical appliance, or 
in any professed " secret." Many pretenders profess to have 
infallible cures, but in none of these cases do their preten- 
sions appear to be well founded, and many are those whose 
fond hopes have been disappointed even after the expendi- 
ture of considerable sums. Whatever may be the merits 
or defects of this volume we believe it will be found to em- 
body the best practical instructions for self treatment attain- 
able anywhere. Dilligent search has fully convinced us of 
this fact. 



SELF CURE 



OF 



STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 



THE DIFFEKENCE BETWEEN STAMMERING 
AND STUTTERING. 



The terms "stammering" and "stuttering" are in this 
country synonymously used to designate all kinds of defec- 
tive utterance. In but few works written upon this subject 
has the discrimination between these disorders been laid 
down with correctness. 

Stammering is characterized by an inability to, or dif- 
ficulty in, properly enunciating some or many of the ele- 
mentary speech sounds, either when they occur at the be- 
ginning or the middle of a word, accompanied or not, as the 
case may be, by a slow, hesitating, more or less indistinct 
delivery, but unattended with frequent repetitions of the 
initial sounds, and consequent convulsive efforts to surmount 
the difficulty. 

The following is the description of the stammer of a lit- 
tle girl of ten years old, in the parent's own words : " The 
child does not appear to be timid or nervous except before 
strangers. The stammering does not seem to be caused by 
any particular sounds, as she can pronounce at times every 
different vowel and consonant without difficulty. She rare 
ly commences a sentence with a stammer, but in the middle 
of it, or even of a word of one syllable, will stop with her 
mouth wide open, and keep moving her jaw without utter- 
ing any sound, and cannot be persuaded to stop until the 
word is spoken. When repeating after another person, she 



8 SELF CUBE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

does so without the slightest hesitation ; but then, after 
reading after another for several days, she read in so mo- 
notonous and drawling a manner that it was quite distress- 
ing to hear her. She does not keep repeating any sound, 
as 'pa-pa-pa-tience/ but opens and shuts her mouth till the 
whole word comes out. 77 

Stuttering, on the other hand, is a vicious utterance 
manifested by frequent repetitions of initial or other elemen 
tary sounds, and always more or less attended with muscu- 
lar contortions. 

That the majority of stutterers belong to what are termed 
the sanguine and nervous temperaments is true enough ; but 
it is an error to suppose that they are exclusively of this 
class. All temperaments yield their quota, and some of 
the more severe cases which have come to our notice 
have been subjects of a lymphatic temperament, who, though 
less tractable than those of any other temperament, rarely 
relapse after being once cured. The sanguine temperament 
is more liable to stuttering, and the lymphatic to stammering. 



USELESSNESS OF SUKGICAL OPEBATXONS. 



The utility of surgical operations for stuttering and stam- 
mering has been deduced from their successful application 
in squinting, wry neck and club foot. The premises were 
wrong, and the conclusion false. In these affections the 
evil is permanent and always associated with a contraction 
or shortening of the respective muscles. Stuttering is, on 
the contrary, frequently temporary ; were it the result of 
an organic defect it would be equally permanent. Dieffen- 
bach found no organic defect in sixteen cases upon which 
he operated, nor were there any found in forty cases treated 
by Blume. Since then the seat of stuttering is not in the 
tongue, it follows that all operations on that innocent or- 
gan are useless. No doubt the patient frequently ceases 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 9 

stuttering, either from the shock upon the system, or from 
his strong faith in the efficacy of the operation; but after 
the wound is healed up, he relapses into his old habit. 

Schulthess cites a case of a young workman, a stutterer, 
whose arm was crushed by machinery so as to require am- 
putation. He remained free from stuttering during the 
time the wound was suppurating ; but the infirmity return- 
ed on its being healed up. Klencke also quotes several 
cases in which stuttering ceased in wounds of the vocal or- 
gans, but returned when they healed up. Speaking of op- 
erations, he says : " But when the wound heals up, the ar- 
ticulation of the consonants again predominates and he 
stutters as before. The operators, however, say that they 
produce an alteration in the muscular and nervous fibers. 
I have had stutterers who have shown me the scars, but no 
alteration had taken place, nor have I seen a single case 
cured by division of the tongue muscles. If such an alter- 
ation really occurs, it would only be an auxiliary means 
paving the way for a cure." 

Dr. Claessen, a distinguished German surgeon, after hav- 
ing performed a variety of operations for impediments of 
speech, says : " Although the results of my experience 
would lose nothing by comparing them with those publish- 
ed, assuming them to be strictly true, still I am so little 
satisfied, that I have undertaken no operation of the kind 
since June 11th, though a number of afflicted persons vehe- 
mently desired it. I consider it my duty to dissuade all 
from performing such operations, as it is exceedingly rare 
that the fault is in the action of the muscles, or that the 
evil is remedied by dividing them." 

It is ascertained that persons who have stammered in the 
highest degree, have been remarkable for the perfect integ- 
r ty of conformation and structure of all the organs, of voice 
and speech ; while others who have labored under a faulty 
or diseased condition of these organs have preserved their 
articulation unimpaired. The discouragement of the pati- 
ent upon the failure of the operation on which he depended 
for a cure, and the want of faith in these operations enter- 
tained by the best authorities as well as the injury some- 
times done the organs, are strong objections to them. 



10 SELF CTJEE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

CLEAR THINKING NECESSAEY. 



The great importance of paying paramount attention to 
the right use of words is thus pointed out by Locke : 

" When I began to examine the extent and certainty of 
our understanding, I found that it had so near a connection 
with words that, unless their force and manner of significa- 
tion were first well observed, there would be very little said 
clearly and pertinently. He that considers the errors, ob- 
scurity and confusions that are spread in the world by an 
ill-use of words, will find some reason to doubt whether lan- 
guage, as it has been employed, has contributed more to the 
improvement or hindrance of knowledge among mankind. 
I know there are not words enough in our language to 
answer all the variety of ideas that enter into man's dis- 
courses and reasonings. But this hinders not that when he 
uses any term he may have in his mind a determined idea, 
which he makes it the sign of, and to which he should keep 
it steadily annexed during that discourse. 77 

A man may be a clear thinker and a good linguist and 
yet stammer, still confused thought is often one of the 
causes of stammering. This is shown in the case of public 
speakers who, having lost the thread of their discourse, 
commence stammering as they attempt to right themselves. 
Such stammering is but temporary, but if one's thoughts 
are continually or frequently muddled, the temporary fits of 
stammering become so frequent as to soon establish a per- 
manent habit, and the habit becomes more and more fixed 
with the greater and greater frequency of the repetitions. 
Again, the confusion itself is increased by the stammering 
which it established, so the one aggravates the other. At- 
tention should be paid to the earliest indications of any 
halting or confusion in speech. In some cases the memory 
needs improvement and it might be worth while to study 
this subject in case there is a suspicion that this is the fact. 
[A useful little work is "How to Make Bad Memory Good/' 
costing only fifteen cents.] 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 11 

INFLUENCE OF IMITATION. 



The tendency to imitate the actions of others is so inti- 
mately connected with the nature of man, that Aristotle 
has, by way of distinction, called man an imitating animal. 
We do not speak here of voluntary and deliberate imitation, 
but of that almost irresistible propensity to catch and to 
repeat the expressions and actions of other human beings 
with whom we come in contact. This tendency exhibits 
self in its greatest intensity in childhood and early youth. 
Long before children can appreciate our motives, they imi- 
tate our actions. The faculty is instinctive, both in man 
and many animals, and differs from the power of voluntary 
imitation, possessed by man in the highest degree, that it is 
a deliberate act, determined by various motives. 

The most familiar illustration of involuntary imitation is 
the irresistible inclination to imitate the act of yawning ; 
which is so little under the influence of the will, that some- 
times the more we resist the execution of the movement, 
the greater is the desire to effect it. The history of epi- 
demics, religious revivals, etc., and the medical records, af- 
ford the most conclusive proofs of the infectious nature of 
emotions, and their physical manifestations, convulsions, 
fits, etc. 

The imitative propensity exhibits itself in earliest child- 
hood, and nothing is more common than to see infants as 
sume the gestures and habits of those by whom they are 
constantly surrounded. This susceptibility may, it is true, 
differ in various subjects in degree, but not in kind. There 
are in fact but few irregular actions, manifested externally, 
which are not instinctively imitated by children. It is 
therefore beyond question that, like squinting, winking with 
the eyes, and many other habits, both stammering and stut- 
tering arise m many cases from unconscious, or sometimes 
voluntary imitation. Seeing then that the habit is so easily 
contracted, we are scarcely justified in considering it as an 
hereditary affection even in cases where one of the parents 



12 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

stammers. In by far the greater number of cases which 
came under our observation, we found that the evil was 
neither hereditary nor congenital, but could be traced to 
the prodigious influence of voluntary or involuntary imita- 
tion. One stammerer or stutterer in a family is quite suffi- 
cient to infect the rest ; and so rapid is the contagion to a 
susceptible child, that we have known those who have con- 
tracted the habit by a single interview with a stutterer. We 
must here strongly warn all young persons against stam- 
mering either in mimicry, or for the baser purpose of de- 
ceiving their teachers^ in order to avoid some task, as 
some very severe cases have confessed their serious imped- 
iment to be the result of one of these practices. A clergy- 
man writes to the following effect : "I was entirely free of 
it till I was five years of age, when at that time of life 
there was a gentleman who was in the habit of occasionally 
frequenting my father's house, who indeed stammered very 
badly, and I distinctly remember one afternoon trying to 
imitate him, when unfortunately he heard me, and was 
very indignant, and so ashamed were my parents at my 
conduct, that after he had gone, I was taken to task and 
punished severely for it, and ever since that night I have 
been afflicted with this most distressing malady " 

It would be easy to adduce numerous instances of this 
kind from our own experience, but we shall only add two il- 
lustrations, so graphically described by an eminent author^ 
ity on this as on other subjects. u I knew of a young man 
who used, for his little brothers 7 and sisters 7 amusement, to 
act some stammering relation. One day he found that his 
acting had become grim earnest. He had set up a bad 
habit, and he was enslaved by it. He was utterly terrified ; 
he looked on his sudden stammers (by a not absurd moral 
sequence) as a judgment from God for mocking an afflicted 
person ; and suffered great misery till he was cured.' 7 

" One of the most frightful stammers I ever knew began 
at seven years old, and could only be traced to the child 7 s 
having watched the contortions of a stammering lawyer in 
a court of justice. But the child had a brain at once ex- 
cited and weakened by a brajn fever, and was of a painfully 
nervous temperament. 7 ' 



SELF CUEE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 13 

DR. HUNT'S HINTS TO PARENTS 

MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN'S ARTICULATION. 



Parents cannot be too careful in watching the develop- 
ment of the organs of voice of their children. All defects 
but those of utterance receive immediate attention, and 
why should the u human voice divine " alone go uncared 
for J i If parents only knew how many a sad life has been 
spent from this early neglect, they would take warning in 
time. Many of the defects of children's articulation are 
very slight, but being neglected they gradually develop 
into serious impediments. Some children, with an active 
brain, begin with speaking so rapidly that their organs will 
not work at the same rate. Some begin to speak before 
they have any clear idea of what they are going to say. It 
is the business of education to counteract this youthful ten- 
dency. It can be done ; but not until parents really care 
more for their children's health than they do for their suc- 
cess in life. It is useless for parents to deny that they care 
more for the wordly prospects of their children than they 
do for their health, while their practice contradicts their 
words. Dr. Eich, after touching on the great variety of 
defects in the speech of young children, says : " All defects 
of articulation may degenerate into stammering; or stutter- 
ing, especially if they commence in childhood." The pro- 
verb" " that a stitch in time may save nine " is as true in this 
case as in any other. 

It can, however, hardly be credited by those who have 
not had experience in the matter, how great is the neglect 
of all physiological laws even in the education of children 
of the richest classes. Education now seems to be a pro- 
cess of cramming the heads of children with dry facts ; 
facts that are not only useless, but which, in the majority 
of instances, are not of the least service in after life, and 
really hurtful as a process for the development of the mind. 
How can a permanent cure of stuttering be expected if the 
pupils cannot spare the time requisite for so desirable an 



14 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

end, and when the after treatment at home is so absurd ? 
It must be remembered that the irritability of the nervous 
system, which originally might have produced stuttering, 
still exists, and the object of all rational education should 
be to allay this irritability. 

I have written and talked to parents for hours on this 
subject; but I was told that the children were backward, 
and that they must be worked up to take a good place at 
public school. They were backward, forsooth, because, un- 
til they were cured, they stuttered so badly that they were 
unable to read. After treatment they return home, and 
have double pressure put on to make up for lost time, not- 
withstanding all remonstrances. Parents too frequently 
will not believe that children require very careful treat- 
ment for a considerable time, and the especial avoidance or 
all strain on the nervous system. But although parents 
and guardians are unwilling to learn from the dictates of 
reason, they not unfrequently learn from experience. A 
boy is placed under treatment, returns home speaking well, 
is put to work, neglects all his vocal exercises, and disre- 
gards all physical systematic training, and in a short time 
his impediment returns ; and then, forsooth, it is not the 
strain on the nervous system, etc., which has produced 
this : but it was the fault of the system by which he was 
cured. He has had a relapse ! The relief is not perma- 
nent ! As well might all men say who go out and take 
cold, that it is a return of the cold which thev had some 
three or six months before. As with a cold so with a stam- 
mer, the oftener and longer it has existed, the more liable 
are persons to it. As long as parents will disregard all 
warning as to the general management, so long must they 
expect sometimes their children to relapse. 

All children who have stuttered and been under treat- 
ment, require some extra care and exercise of the vocal ap- 
paratus. They often cannot learn to read until they are 
cured, and if they do it is most imperfectly, with little or 
no modulation or flexibility of the voice. They have spoken 
little owing to their difficulty, and therefore the whole me- 
chanism requires a careful and systematic training. This 
requires both time and attention, but one would fancy that 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 15 

it would be gladly given by those parents who know what 
a great working power the " gift of the gab " is to raise one- 
self in the world. The value of a good voice is well known 
to all ; but it is not so generally known that a good voice 
is the result of much attention and labor. To slightly alter 
the words of Pope : 

u Free ease in ' speaking' comes from art, not chance, 
As those move easiest who have learned to dance." 

Nothing then can be more absurd than for parents to ex- 
pect an effect without an adequate cause. Defective speech 
can be cured, and it may be reproduced, like any other af- 
fection of the mind or body 5 and the present mode of 
cramming the brain (falsely called education, which means 
to bring out, not to stuff in), is the very process to pro- 
duce stuttering in some cases, and to reproduce it in oth- 
ers. 

A susceptible, timid child, constantly in awe of an igno- 
rant parent or a brutal master, may be made to stutter by 
cruel treatment. And here I say boldly that the stupidity 
and cruelty with which stammering children are too often 
treated, is enough to rouse indignation. They are told, 
" You can help it if you like." As if they knew how to 
help it. They are asked, " Why cannot you speak like 
other people V As if it were not torture enough to see 
other people speaking as they cannot ; to see the rest of 
the world walking smoothly along a road which they can- 
not find, and are laughed at for not finding ; while those 
who walk proudly along cannot tell them how they keep on 
it. They are even told, " You do it on purpose P As if 
they were not writhing with shame every time they open 
their mouths. All this begets in the stammerer a habit of 
secresy, of feeling himself cut off from his kindred ; of 
brooding over his thoughts, of fancying himself under a 
mysterious curse, which sometimes (as I have known it to 
do) tempts him to actual suicide ; sometimes (as I have 
known it to do) seems the possession of a demon. If it 
proceeded from an organic defect, a deformity, he would 
know that he could not dance. If he was blind he would 
not expect to see. But when he knowes there is no defor- 
mity, that his organs are just as perfect as other people's, 



16 SELF CUKE OE STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

the very seeming causelessness of the malady makes it 
utterly intolerable. 

In early infancy the first inclination to stammer is little 
noticed, and it is only about the period of the second 
dentition that the attention of the parent is fairly roused. 
The hope which many parents entertain that the affection 
may spontaneously decline, is rarely realized. The defect, 
on the contrary, commonly increases with approaching 
puberty, and sometimes becomes then developed in its worst 
form. 

Parents, therefore, cannot be too often reminded that the 
proper time for attention is the period when the infirmity 
first manifests itself; the evil then may be more easily 
removed ; while the cure becomes more difficult and tedious 
when indistinct articulation has become habitual. 



HEALTH AND STAMMERING. 



A WRITER over the signature of "A Minute Philosopher," 
says : 

"JVhosoever can afford an enervated body and an abject 
character, the stammerer cannot. With him it is a question 
of life and death. He must make a man of himself, or be 
liable to his tormentor to the last. 

" Let him therefore avoid all base perturbations of mind ; 
all cowardice, servility, meanness, vanity, and hankering 
after admiration ; for these all will make many a man, by 
a just judgment, stammer on the spot. Let him, for the 
same reason, eschew all anger, peevishness, haste, even 
pardonable eagerness. In a word, let him eschew the root 
of all evil, selfishness and self seeking ; for he will surely 
find that whensoever he begins thinking about himself, then 
is the dumb devil of stammering at his elbow. Let him 
eschew, too, all superstition, whether of that abject kind 
which fancies that it can please God by a starved body and 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 17 

a hang-dog visage, which pretends to be afraid to look man- 
kind in the face, or of that more openly self-conceited kind 
which upsets the balance of the reason by hysterical rap- 
tures and self-glorifying assumptions. Let him eschew, 
lastly, all which can weaken either nerves or digestion ; all 
sexual excesses, all intemperance in drink or in food, whether 
gross or effeminate, remembering that it is as easy to be 
unwholesomely gluttonous over hot slops and cold ices as 
over beef and beer. 

" Let him avoid those same hot slops (to go on with the 
corpus sanum), and all else which will injure his wind and 
his digestion, and let him betake himself to all manly exer- 
cises which will put him into wind, and keep him in it. Let 
him, if he can, ride, and ride hard, remembering (so does 
horse exercise expand the lungs and oxygenate the blood) 
there has been at least one frightful stammerer ere now 
who spoKe perfectly plain as long as he was in the saddle. 
Let him play rackets and fives, row and box ; for all these 
amusements strengthen those muscles of the chest and 
abdomen which are certain to be in this case weak. Above 
all, let him box ; for so will u the noble art of self defense " 
become to him over and above a healing art. If he doubt 
this assertion, let him (or, indeed, any narrow chested porer 
over desks) hit out right and left for five minutes at a point 
on the wall as high as his own face (hitting, of course, not 
from the elbow, like a woman, but from the loin, like a man, 
and keeping his breath during the exercise as long as he 
can), and he will soon become aware of his weak point by 
a severe pain in the epigastric region, in the same spo«t which 
pains him after a convulsion of stammering. Then let him 
try boxing regularly, daily ; and he will find that it teaches 
him to look a man not merely in the face, but in the very eye's 
core ; to keep his chest expanded, his lungs full of air ; to 
be calm and steady under excitement ; and lastly, to use 
all those muscles of the torso on which deep and healthy 
respiration depends. Let him carry himself with the erect 
and noble port which is all but peculiar to the soldier, but 
ought to be the common habit of every man ; let him learn 
to march,- and more, to trot under arms without losing 
breath ; and by such means make himself an active, healthy, 



18 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

and valiant man. Always remembering, however, to avoid 
strains and all forms and degrees of excessive exertion, doing 
all things in moderation but with perseverance. 

" Meanwhile, let him learn again the art of speaking ; 
and having learned, think before he speaks, and say his say 
calmly, with self-respect, as a man who does not talk at 
random, and has a right to a courteous answer. Let him 
fix in his mind that there is nothing on earth to be ashamed 
of, save doing wrong, and no being to be feared save Al- 
mighty God ; and so go on making the best of the body and 
the soul which heaven has given him, and I will warrant 
that in a few months his old misery of stammering will lie 
behind him, as an ugly and all but impossible dream when 
one awakes in the morning." 



DR. VOISIN'S THEORY. 



Girls and ladies are seldom known to stammer. With 
them, the organ of language is larger than in males, and 
they are more free and copious in speech. They commence 
early to talk to their dolls, play " keep house, teach school/ 7 
correct the dog and the cat, talk to the bird, and keep up a 
vocal chatter generally. Nor will the command of an im- 
patient and inconsiderate parent, to " Hold your tongue P 
avail, with little girls. They must talk, laugh, or cry, 
while the boys whistle, play ball, fly kites, roll hoops, play 
horse or hide-and-seek, drive nails, bore holes, saw wood, 
whittle, build boats or carts ; harness the dog or the goat, 
and do other similar service where much yelling and little 
talking is required. Girls are much more with their mo- 
thers, and conversation, including " small talk," can go on 
almost perpetually, all day long ; and it is a fact, ladies be- 
come by practice far the best and most natural talkers. 
Who ever knew a lady to stammer ? 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 19 

Boys are more rough, blunt, and uncouth in manners and 
conversation, and are more frequently commanded to 
li hush ! — shut up !" " stop your clatter !" " be quiet !" etc., 
and told that " boys should be seen, not heard," and they 
come to think more than they talk. Later in life they are 
expected to read aloud, tell what they saw or heard, and 
they blunder, misplace their words, and form the habit of 
stammering. 

All the organs of speech are precisely the same in those 
who do and who do not stammer. It is a mental and not a 
physiological or bodily infirmity, and should be treated ac- 
cordingly. This view is corroborated by a French writer, 
who says : 

" Stammering has been generally ascribed to some physi- 
cal impediment in the tongue, the palate, or some other of 
the organs of speech ; but it is easy to show that its cause 
is of a very different origin, and that it rarely, if ever, arises 
from simple malformation of the vocal organs." 

It is justly observed by M. F. Voisin, M.D., of Paris, 
who is (or was) himself afflicted to a great degree with this 
defect of speech, and who is therefore no very incompetent 
judge, that the anatomical inspection of the vocal organs 
does not demonstrate any vice of confirmation. u The per- 
sons," says he, "that I have seen, and who. like myself, 
spoke with difficulty, had not, as is alleged, the tongue 
larger than other people, nor its ligaments laxer, nor its 
fremum excessively long, nor the teeth so placed as to pre- 
sent any obstacle. It is incontestible, indeed, that all these 
lesions exist, and I have myself seen every one of them ; 
but when they do exist, they give rise to phenomena totally 
different. To be convinced of this it is only necessary to 
examine the individuals in whom they present themselves. 
We shall remark, it is true, a greater or less alteration of 
pronunciation, but never the characteristic symptoms of 
stammering." 

If physical malformation were really the genera] cause of 
stammering, the effect would necessarily be permanent, and 
would affect the same sounds every time they recurred; but 
the reverse of this is the truth ; for it is well known that, 
on occasions of excitement, stammerers often display a flu- 



20 SELF CUBE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

ency and facility of utterance the very opposite of their 
habitual state, and that, as Dr. Voisin expresses it, u Lors- 
qu'ils se mettent en colere, ils blasphement avec une energie 
qui n'a point echappee aux hommes les moins observateurs."* 
But passion or excitement can never remove a physical 
cause, make a large tongue small, set crooked teeth straight, 
or tighten the ligaments of the tongue, and then let these 
imperfections return as soon as the storm is over. Such 
causes may make a person speak thick, or low, or indis- 
tinctly ; but his utterance will still be as equable and free 
from stammer as before, and therefore the true stammer 
must depend on a totally different antecedent. 

Dr. Voisin proves very clearly that the real cause is 
irregularity in the nervous action of the parts which com- 
bine to produce speech. This is shown by analyzing speech. 
The natural sounds, or vowels, are simple, and require only 
one kind of muscular action for their production; hence 
they are almost always under command. The artificial, or 
compound, sounds (hence denominated consonants) are 
complex, and require several distinct and successive com- 
binations of a variety of muscles ; and it is they alone that 
excite stammering. But it is the brain that directs and 
combines all voluntary motions ; and consequently every 
disturbing cause, not local and not permanent, can affect 
the voluntary motions of speech only through the medium 
of the brain ; and irregular action of the brain must thus 
be the indispensable antecedent or cause of the effect— stam- 
mering. This will be obvious on reviewing the exciting 
causes of that infirmity. 

First. It is no unusual thing to see a person, who is per- 
fectly fluent in conversation, and who has never been known 
to stammer, become grievously affected with it, if called 
upon unexpectedly to address a public audience. Every 
one will admit that, in this case, there is no physical im- 
pediment to utterance, but that the cause is in the brain, or 
organ of the mind, and that it consists in irregular nervous 
impulse sent to the organs of speech, and proceeding from 



* When they get angry, they blaspheme with an energy which can- 
not fail to impress the least observing. 






SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 21 

a conflict between the desire to speak well, the fear of 
speaking ill, or perhaps a consciousness of a paucity or bad 
arrangement of the ideas which he is expected to commu- 
nicate, or it may be a dearth of words in which to clothe 
them. In every instance the essential circumstance is a 
conflict, or absence of cooperation among the active facul- 
ties, necessarily giving rise to a plurality, instead of to a 
unity of nervous purposes, and consequently to a plurality, 
instead of to a unity of simultaneous muscular combinations ; 
and the irregular plurality of purposes and of actions 
thence resulting: constitutes exactly what is called stam- 



mering. 



A striking illustration of the truth of this view is the fact, 
that stammering, or irregularity of action, is an affection 
not peculiar to the muscles concerned in the production of 
speech, but is common to these and to all the muscles un- 
der the power of the will. Wherever two or more diverg- 
ing purposes of nearly equal power assail the mind, and 
prompt to opposite courses of action at the same time, there 
stammering appears, whether it be in the muscles of the 
vocal organs or in those of the feet. We recollect a ludi- 
crous example of this in a boy at a dancing-school ball in the 
assembly rooms. He was dancing very easily and grace- 
fully, and with much inward tranquility and satisfaction, 
when, on a sudden, raising his head, his wonder was attract- 
ed and dazzled by the unusual splendor of the chandeliers, 
which he had not before noticed. His feet continued to 
move, but with evidently less unity of purpose than before, 
and after making a few unmeaning and rather eccentric 
movements, or stammering with his feet instead of with his 
tongue, he fell on his back on the floor, and awoke from his 
revcry. 

Secondly. A person unexpectedly beset by danger stam- 
mers from head to foot, till his presence of mind gives him 
a unity of purpose, and decides what he is to do. In this 
instance, it is undeniably the simultaneous existence of op- 
posite mental impulses that produces the effect. For the 
same reason, the sudden recollection, during an animated 
discourse, of something forgotten, causes a temporary stam- 
mer and unsteadiness of attitude. In short, a multiplicity 



22 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

of impulses causes contrariety of action, and contrariety of 
action constitutes stammering. 

"The influence which the encephalon exercises over pro- 
nunciation" says Dr. Voisin, u is equally established by the 
observations continually furnished by orators, advocates, 
and public speakers. If the intellectual operations are car- 
ried on with rapidity, if the ideas are clear, numerous, and 
well connected, the pronunciation will be free, easy, and 
agreeable ; if, on the contrary, the march of intellect is 
slow and difficult, and the ideas are confused and ill arrang- 
ed, the elocution will partake of the internal trouble, and 
the orator, thus accidentally a stammerer, will soon have 
fatigued his audience by his repetitions and disagreeable ar- 
ticulations." We have seen the same thing arise from a 
deficient supply of words to clothe the ideas that presented 
themselves ; the contrariety arising in this instance from 
the ineffectual struggle of a small organ of language to 
keep pace with the workings of the larger organs of other 
intellectual powers. 

Thirdly. The effect of wine and spirituous liquors prove 
the influence of the brain in the production and cure of 
stammering. Look at that individual, who, without com- 
mitting any great excess, is moderately excited by a few 
glasses of wine ; lately he was sad, silent, and spiritless ; 
now, what a metamorphosis ! he is gay, talkative, and wit- 
ty. Let him continue to drink, and go beyond the measure 
of his judgment, his head will become embarrassed, and the 
fumes of the wine trouble his intellectual functions. The 
muscles, subjected to the guidance of a will without power, 
contract feebly, and the most confused and marked stam- 
mering succeeds to the fluent pronunciation so lately ob- 
served, and which depended on the powerful action of the 
brain on the organs of speech. 

Fourthly. From the earliest antiquity accidental stam- 
mering has been noticed by physicians as frequently the 
precursor of apoplexy and palsy, which could happen only 
from the preceding affection of the brain acting on the or- 
gans of speech. 

Fifthly. M. Voisin himself remarks the well known fact, 
that stammerers are generally very sensitive and easily 



SELF CURE OP STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 23 

irritated, and, at the same time, timid and retiring ; thus 
affording the essential contrariety of emotions in its strong- 
est degree. M. Voisin forcibly delineates this state, when 
he says, " I shall never forget when I had finished my 
studies, and was entering on life, my troubled countenance, 
my embarrassment and monosyllabic answers, and the 
silence which fear and timidity almost always enforced 
upon me, gave to many people such an idea of my character, 
that I may dispense with quoting the epithet which they 
were pleased to bestow upon me." 

Sixthly. Certain emotions, by exciting the brain, direct 
such a powerful nervous influx upon the organs of speech, 
that it not only frees the stammerer from his infirmity for a 
time, but has even sufficed to deliver the dumb from their 
bondage, and enabled them to speak. Esquirol gives a 
curious example of this fact. A dumb man had long en- 
dured contempt and bad usage from his wife ; but being 
one day more grossly maltreated than usual, he got into 
such a furious rage, that he regained the use of his tongue, 
and repaid with usury the execrations which his tender 
mate had so long lavished upon him. This shows how 
closely the brain influences speech. 

Seventhly. Speech is the conductor of ideas, and is use- 
less where none exist. Accordingly it is noticed that idiots, 
although they hear well and have a sound conformation of 
the organs of speech, and a power of emitting al the natur- 
al sounds, are either dumb or speak very imperfectly. 

Eighthly. Under the influence of contending emotions 
the tongue either moves without firmness or remains alto- 
gether immoveable. This occurs most frequently when 
cautiousness or fear and veneration or respect are 'the op- 
posing feelings. Stammering from this cause diminishes 
imperceptibility, and sometimes even disappears, in propor- 
tion as the individual regains his presence of mind and 
masters his internal impression. " The observations," says 
Dr. M. Voisin, " which I have the sad privilege of making 
on myself every day, confirm what is here advanced. I 
have often intercourse with men for whom I feel so much 
respect, that it is almost impossible for me to speak to them 
when I appear before them. But if the conversation, of 



24 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

which they at first famish the whole, goes on and becomes 
animated, recovering soon from my first emotion, I shake 
off all little considerations, and, raising myself to their 
hight, I discuss with them without fear, and without the 
slightest difficulty in my pronunciation." This indicates 
the supreme influence of the nervous influx on the move- 
ments of the vocal muscles, and it is curiously supported 
and illustrated by a fact mentioned by M. Itard, of a boy of 
eleven, who was excessively at fault whenever he attempt- 
ed to speak in the presence of persons looking at him, but 
in whom the stammering instantly disappeared as soon as 
by shutting out the light, he ceased to be visible. This is 
explicable only on the theory of opposite mental emotions. 

Ninthly. As the individual advances in age, and acquires 
consistency and unity of character, the infirmity becomes 
less and less marked, and even frequently disappears alto- 
gether. In the same way it is generally marked more in 
the morning than in the evening, because the brain has not 
then assumed its full complement of activity, nor been 
exposed to the numerous stimuli which beset it in the ordi- 
nary labors of the day. 

A late writer seems to us to mistake the effect for the 
cause, when he says that stammerers, being deprived of the 
means of communication with their fellows, become reserv- 
ed and timid in society, and of exquisite sensibility ; for ac- 
cording to the view we have been unfolding, the natural 
timidity and sensibility, instead of being the result, are in 
fact the chief causes of the stammer or defect in pronuncia- 
tion. And we think this confirmed by his own observation, 
that old age is generally a cure, and that " old men, 77 when 
interrogated on the causes of the amendment, generally at- 
tribute it to their having become less hasty, or much more 
moderate and considerate, and in a much less hurry to force 
out their ideas. 

The cerebral and mental cause of stammering explains 
the effects of education and the rational mode of cure. 

Speech being the vehicle of ideas, and of no use but to 
convey them, it is obvious that one important condition in 
securing a distinct articulation is to have previously acquir- 
ed distinct ideas. Idiots, having few ideas, never learn to 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 25 

speak. For the same reason, children ought not to be for- 
ced to speak in the way that is generally done. This ill- 
timed haste has the opposite effect from that desired, for 
the subjects of it speak later and with greater confusion ; 
and the extreme attention that is paid to their almost eveiy 
word, dispenses them from distinct articulation, and causes 
a bad pronunciation for their whole lives. This is remark- 
ed very often in children brought up in towns. They speak 
earlier but much less distinctly than those reared in the 
country. Learning by rote is held to be very pernicious, as 
it accustoms the child to negligent and unmeaning pronun- 
ciation in his repetition of the same words. 

It is remarked, indeed, that those who are late of speak- 
ing never speak so distinctly as the others ; but here the 
effect is often mistaken for the cause, for the child is long 
of speaking only because his vocal organs are naturally em- 
barrassed, and not because they have lain idle from the 
want of speech. If the organs were not constitutionally 
impeded, why should any one child be longer of speaking 
than another ? The child that stammers has quite as much 
use for speaking as any other, and in general he is stimu- 
lated to an infinitely greater degree to exert his power of 
speech. Parents become uneasy, and by their ill-judged 
efforts at hastening improvement, often cause the very effect 
they seek to avoid. 

From this view it will appear that the cause of stammer- 
ing is to be looked for in removing the exciting causes, and 
in bringing the vocal muscles into harmonious action by 
determined and patient exercise. The opposite emoiions, 
so generally productive of stammering, may, especially in 
early life, be gradually got rid of by a judicious moral 
treatment — by directing the attention of the child to the 
existence of these emotions as causes — by inspiring him 
with friendly confidence — by exciting him resolutely to 
shun any attempt at pronunciation when he feels himself 
unable to master it — by exercising himself when alone and 
free from emotion, in singing, talking, and reading aloud, 
and for a length of time, so as to habituate the muscles to 
simultaneous and sytematic action — and, we may add, as a 
very effectual remedy, by increasing the natural difficulty 



26 SELF CTTEE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

in such a way as to require a strong and undivided mental 
effort to accomplish the utterance of a sound, and thereby 
add to the amount of nervous energy distributed to the 
organs of speech. The practice of Demosthenes is a most 
excellent example. He cured himself of inveterate stam- 
mering by filling his mouth with pebbles, ind accustoming 
himself to recitations in that state. It required strong 
local action, and a concentrated attention, to emit a sound 
without choking himself or allowing the pebbles to drop from 
his mouth ; and this was precisely the natural remedy to 
apply to opposite and contending emotions and divided at- 
tention. 

Demosthenes adopted the other most effectual part of 
the means of cure. He exercised himself alone, and free 
from distressing emotions, to such a degree, that he con- 
structed a subterraneous cabinet on purpose for perfect re- 
tirement, and sometimes passed two or three months with- 
out ever leaving it, having previously shaven one half of 
his head, that he might not be able to appear in public 
when the temptation should come upon him. And the per- 
fect success which attended this plan is universally known. 
His voice passed from a weak, uncertain, and unmanage- 
able to a full, powerful, and even melodious tone, and be- 
came so remarkably flexible as to accommodate itself with 
ease to the very numerous and delicate inflections of the 
Greek tongue. But as a complete cure, or harmonious ac- 
tion of the vocal muscles, can be obtained only by the re- 
petition of the muscular action till a habit or tendency to 
act becomes established, it is evident that perseverance is 
an essential element in its accomplishment, and that with- 
out ^his the temporary amendment obtained at first by the 
excitement consequent upon a trial of any means very soon 
disappears, and leaves the infirmity altogether unmitigated. 

M> Itard, whom we have already mentioned, recom- 
mends very strongly, where it can be done, to force child- 
ren to speak in a foreign language, by giving them a 
foreign governess or tutor ; and the propriety of this ad- 
vice is very palpable when we consider that it requires a 
more powerful and concentrated effort to speak and to pro- 
nounce a foreign than a native tongue, and that it is pre- 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 21 

cisely a strong, undivided, and long-continued mental effort 
that is necessary to effect a cure. 

It is scarcely necessary to add, that debility,* in which 
this, in common with many other forms of nervous dis- 
ease, often originates in the young, must be obviated by a 
due supply of nourishing food, country air, regular exer- 
cise, and, though last not least, by cheerful society, kind- 
ness, and encouragement. 

Finally. Having shown that stammering is only an im- 
pediment, caused by nervous excitement, sensitiveness, dif- 
fidence and a lack of confidence and self-reliance, and not 
by disease or a lack of the necessary organs of speech, we 
may state that the careful attention of parents to their 
children from the earliest infancy, not only permitting but 
encouraging them to talk freely, copiously, and fluently, 
and to sing, read aloud, and thus give expression to their 
thoughts, feelings, and emotions, would remove all danger 
of their ever becoming stammerers. Of course correct pro- 
nunciation should be insisted upon, and while encouraging 
the child to exercise his talkativeness when he feels 
prompted to do so, it is bad to induce children to begin 
talking much before they are old enough to properly form 
the words. A child should never be encouraged in any 
affection or peculiarity of speech which, though possibly 
seeming "pretty" or "cunning" in a child, may eventu- 
ate in a confirmed and distressing impediment. 

f There are certain practices to some extent prevalent among our 
youths, which have a tendency to induce a general debility of the sys- 
tem as well as, in some instances, specific ailments. Stammering 
though by no means proving the indulgence referred to, may be one of 
the results, or may be aggravated thereby. Many stammerers un- 
doubtedly are never guilty of these habits, but debility from these or 
any causes is, as already shown, a cause or aggravation. Any reader 
who lacks vigorous constitution or bodily health, whatever may be 
the reason, and in ^majority of such cases there is no. fault, would 
do well to read the little work on " Debility, Physical and Mental, 
including Consumption, Dyspepsia, Nervousness, &c, &c, with 
Causes, Prevention and Cure, with full and simple instructions for 
Self Treatment by means within reach of all, without one cent ex- 
pense" It advertises no doctor or medicine, is entirely free from all 
pernicious matter of any kind, and will be found a useful and reliable 
guide for all who wish to gain health and vigor by simple, sure, safe, 
and inexpensive means. 120 pages, 75 cents. [Ready in Feb. 1870. 



28 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

DR. W. W. HALL ON STAMMERING. 



It is often observed that persons in a state of intense ex- 
citement are incoherent, and do not express themselves con- 
nectedly ; this is simply acute stammering, resulting from 
too great an amount of nervous power or influence going 
out in a specific direction by the mind being too intently 
fixed on one thing, on one idea, on one effort. The always 
efficient remedy is to divide the mind's attention in any 
way that will cause deliberation or composure. Twenty 
years ago it was considered a great surgical feat in the 
amphitheater of the University of New York to bring in 
the most inveterate stutterer, and in ^ye minutes he would 
go away before the wondering eyes of the students, per- 
fectly cured, simply by' having had a common knitting- 
needle, or its substitute, thrust through the tongue. The 
philosophy of this was, that unless the tongue was moved 
with deliberation more or less pain was excited ; but the 
misfortune was, that as soon as the wound was healed, the 
man stammered as before. 

It is related in physiological works, that a laborer, the 
most inveterate stammerer in London, became possessed 
with the idea that he would make a good play-actor, and 
nothing that his friends could say or do could induce him 
to forego his resolve. The unusual circumstances gave a 
crowded house, and the young man went through his part 
without the stammer of a single syllable ; because, while 
one effort of the mind was to remember the words and the 
gestures, another, a divided one, was to the utterances of 
his part. 

My sof, at the age of six, stammered inveterately. He 
was very impulsive and of a highly nervous temperament. 
Holding the views of this article, I would not allow him 
to be scolded or ridiculed, or have the infirmity remarked 
upon by any member of the family, because either of these 
would but increase the embarrassment or want of presence 
of mind ; but whenever he came to me for anything, I would 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 29 

say in a kindly, encouraging way : u Now, Bobby, if you 
will ask for it in a slow, plain way, you shall have it." 
Then, without any instruction, he would say : " Will fa-ther 
please give Robert a piece of can-dy ? " thus distinctly 
enunciating every syllable. I noticed at the same time, 
that the little fellow, at each syllable, would make a mo- 
tion to strike his hand against his thigh as he stood. Here 
was nature's instinct coming to his aid ; part of the mind, 
as it were, was directed to the hand keeping time to each 
syllable, another part to obtaining the object in view. In 
a few weeks little Robert ceased to stammer altogether, and 
has never since had the slightest trouble in that direction. 

Hence, the cure for stammering is to cultivate mental 
deliberation in the way most easily available to each par- 
ticular person. 

Stammering is sometimes the result of habit or careless- 
ness ; at others, it succeeds a long attack of sickness. It 
is a kind of St. Vitus 7 dance of the tongue. Not un 
frequently it is brought on by the harsh treatment or in- 
veterate ill-nature of parents, teachers, or superiors, in 
habitually meeting those under them with threatenings, 
scolding, or fault-finding. We have met before now with 
a most miserable class of human, or rather inhuman beings, 
who scarcely ever enter a room, where are children, or ser- 
vants, or dependents, without the expression of some dis- 
approbation or complaint. This has very naturally the 
effect to confuse and intimidate a child, especially one of a 
highly nervous or excitable temperament : while steadiness 
and composure are the very antipodes of stammering, which 
is essentially the throwing out too much nervous power, 
sending too much nervous influence to the muscles which 
are employed in speaking ; the result is a want of proper 
control of those muscles. Hence, whatever diminishes the 
nervous supply to those parts, whatever directs the nervous 
flow to some other part of the body, diminishes the stam- 
mering in the same proportion. This is the principle of 
cure in all cases of permanent cure, and even in the tempo- 
rary relief afforded, in the cases previously referred to, by 
running the knitting-needle through the tongue. This cured 
only until the tongue got well, because, while the tongue 



30 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

was sore from the barbarous operation, the extra nervous 
energy was expended in the instinctive effort to refrain from 
any other than a careful movement of the tongue. The 
expedient of Demosthenes in speaking with little pebbles in 
his mouth, was in the same direction. We will venture the 
assertion that no man ever stammered in " popping the 
question/ 7 nor a young lady halt out y-ye-ye-yes. Instinct 
itself prompts a cure. As it is a life-long calamity to have 
a son or daughter grow up a stutterer, I trust that these 
hints may be turned to practical account by those whom 
they may concern. Anything else done at the time of ut- 
tering each syllable, divides the attention, gives two outlets 
to the extra nervous flow, and the remedy is complete ; 
make a mark, pull a string, turn a leaf, stamp the foot — any 
one of them will effect a cure in a reasonable time.* 



* Many anecdotes might be given, to show the instinctive resort to 
such little tricks as Dr. Hall mentions, to promote easy utterance. 
Among public speakers, the practice of twirling the thumbs, fingering 
the edge of desk or stand, or similar devices, is almost universal, 
though in most cases, probably, unconscious. Possibly a speaker's 
a notes" are useful in this way, in addition to their more direct 
purpose of refreshing his memory. The helplessness to which their 
deprivation will sometimes reduce a speaker is amusingly shown in a 
couple of stories, to which the reader would doubtless be able to add 
others of similar purport. 

The first relates to a wager made between two friends of a cele- 
brated lawyer, that he would lose a certain case if deprived of a little 
rubber band, such as is used for securing files of letters, which he was 
accustomed to twirl on his thumbs during his argument. This band 
lay on a table in the court-room, within easy reach of his hand, but 
was slyly removed by the wagerers. When he rose to address the 
court and jury, he reached for his rubber, and, not finding it, groped 
about the table for it, at the same time attempting to go on with his 
speech. His efforts were futile ; on the very first point in his argu- 
ment he became confused, faltered, and finally came to a very lame 
conclusion, actually losing his case. 

The second story is very similar to the foregoing, except that a but- 
ton was the important article in this case. There was one particular 
button on his coat which the speaker, a political orator of consider- 
able repute, had a habit of taking hold of and fingering daring his dis- 
course. This was privately removed by a political opponent, and the 
speaker — we believe, in this case, on the " stump " — after clutching 
frantically at his coat for some time, helplessly reiterating his " Fel- 
low citizens!" several times, and endeavoring in vain to collect his 
scattered thoughts, gave up in despair, and resigned the floor to the 
opposing speaker. 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 31 

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 



A Forty Dollar Cure for Stammering. — We have 
been asked if there is any reliance to be placed in a certain 
u Professor" who advertises "to cure the worst cases of 
stammering, or ' stuttering/ for $40 ; and second, if we 
can advise any remedy, as she has a son badly affected. We 
will answer both questions by saying that the secret for 
which the $40 is asked, has long been known, and that 
she can have the secret from us for twenty-five cents, viz. : 
the twenty-five cents she has paid for this book. Here it is : 
Let the stammerer begin at once to beat time for every 
word he utters ; either in talking or reading, just as if sing- 
ing the words. If this does not stop the hesitancy, then 
try beating time to every syllable, and afterward gradually 
run into beating for words, and then for sentences. The 
beating can be done with the foot, or with a hand, or one 
finger of the hand, or by striking the finger and thumb to- 
gether. Thus : " When (beat) in (beat) the (beat) course 
(beat) of (beat) hu- (beat) man (beat) e (beat) vents, (beat) 
etc." A persistent course of measuring the words until 
the stammerer can read and talk straight forward, though 
slowly, for an hour at a time, will doubtless overcome the 
habit of stammering. We do not say that this will always 
effect a perfect cure in the worst cases, where the stam - 
mering or habit has been long established, but from the 
nature of the defect, it must be greatly modified, if not 
cured. And at least here is all you will get if you send 
your $40 to the u Professor," who has no more skill, and 
no more right to the " secret " than we have. 



Impediments in the speech may be cured, where there 
si no malformation of the organs of articulation, by per- 
severance for three or four months in the simple remedy of 
reading aloud, with the teeth closed, for at least one or two 
hours in the course of each day. — Mrs. S. J. Hale. 



32 SELF CUKE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

When children see anything remarkable (in their view), 
they are always in a great hurry to tell of it, and often the 
words crowd to the tongue faster than they fall from it, 
which induces stammering. On such occasions, the parent 
should instantly hush the child, until its excitement is over, 
and then give it the privilege to make the relation calmly. 
This is a good suggestion. It is known that an inveterate 
stutterer can be cured by practicing some method which 
requires him to speak deliberately and in measured time. 
Some " Professors " who cure stammerers, require their 
pupils to beat time with the finger at each word, the same 
as in singing, and in this way the habit of control over the 
organs of speech is acquired. But prevention is always 
better than cure, and a little care of the first will entirely 
break up the tendency to stammer, which children often 
have. — J. T. Hassett. 



Stammering may be the result of disease, as paralysis, 
congestion of the head, or fever. It, however, very often 
exists without any apparent cause, and in these cases, a 
certain mental training, particularly in childhood, will 
prove far more beneficial than any medical treatment, and 
will, as a general thing, be entirely successful. The patient 
should be advised to read aloud, slowly and distinctly, enun- 
ciating clearly each word and syllable, at the same time 
beating time with the finger or foot. When talking he 
should avoid excitement, keeping the mind perfectly clear, 
and pronounce every word slowly, distinctly. 

A course of mental training like this, will, if taken in 
time, be sufficient to break up the habit. — E. M. GrUEUN- 
SET, M. D., Homeopathist. 



The following is recommended as an exercise for over- 
coming the tendency to stammer. This sentence is to be 
repeated fast : Theopolis Thistle the thistle sifter sifted a 
sifter full of unsifted thistles, and if Theopolis Thistle the 
thistle sifter sifted a sifter full of unsifted thistles where's 
the sifter full of sifted thistles that Theopolis Thistle the 
thistle sifter sifted. 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 33 

H. W. R. says that his father cured himself of stam- 
mering by the following simple means : " Take a large 
kernel of barley or wheat, or a smooth pebble, and place it 
under the root of the tongue in the center, and as far back 
as possible, and keep it there all the time, except when eat- 
ing or sleeping, till the cure is complete." 



A rapid and emphatic recital of the following simple 
narrative is an infallible cure for lisping : " Hobbs meets 
Snobbs and Nobbs ; Hobbs bobs to Snobbs and Nobbs 5. 
Hobbs nobs with Snobbs and robs Nobbs's fobs.'' " This 
is," says Nobbs, "the worst of Hobb's jobs and Snobb's 
sobs." 



ACCIDENTS OF SPEECH. 



These are somewhat akin to impediments of speech inas- 
much as they result from a confusion of ideas, which is 
also a frequent cause of stammering, Pat has long labored 
under the imputation of making more u accidents " with the 
tongue than any of his fellow mortals ; but it can be very 
readily shown that the " bull " is not necessarily indigenous 
to Irish soil. 

A Frenchman named Calino, who died in Paris not many 
years ago, was remarkable for a bovine tendency. There 
is a letter of his in existence which reads as follows : u My 
dear friend — I left my knife at your lodgings yesterday. 
Pray send it to me if you find it. Yours, Calino. P. S. — 
Never mind sending the knife ; I have found it," 

There is a note to his wife, which he sent home with a 
basket of provisions, the postscript to which read : " You 
will find my letter at the bottom of the basket. If you 
should fail to do so let me know as soon as possible." 

A lady once asked the Abbe de Matignon how old he 



34 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING- AND STUTTERING. 

was. " Why, I am an only thirty- two," said he, u but I 
count myself thirty-three, because a little boy was born a 
year before I was and died, evidently keeping me back a 
whole year by accident." 

It was a Scotch woman who said that the butcher of her 
town only killed half a beast at a time. It was a Dutch- 
man who said a pig had no earmarks except a short tail j 
and it was a British magistrate who, being told by a vaga- 
bond that he was not married, responded : " That's a good 
thing for your wife." 

At a negro ball, in lieu of " Not transferable," on the 
tickets, a notice was posted over the door, " No gentleman 
admitted unless he comes hisself." 

An American lecturer of note solemnly said one evening : 
" Parents, you may have children, or, if you have not, your 
daughters may have." 

A western editor once wrote ; u A correspondent asks 
whether the battle of Waterloo occurred before or after the 
commencement of the Christian era. We answer it did." 

A Maine editor says a pumpkin in that state grew so 
large that eight men could stand around it ; which state- 
ment was only equalled by that of the hoosier who saw a 
flock of pigeons fly so low that he could shake a stick at 
them. 

Those two observing men, one of whom said that he 
always noticed when he lived through the month of May 
he lived through the year, and the other of whom said at a 
wedding that he had remarked that more women than men 
had been married that year, were neither of them Irishmen. 

The intimacy of Preston King with President Johnson 
has reminded somebody of a good thing which occurred at 
the Baltimore convention, which has not before got into 
print. Mr. King, who was physically a complete FalstafF, 
rose to make a speech. He was not heard in the remote 
corners of "the hall; and it was then that little Brandagee, 
of Connecticut, jumped up and shouted : " Mr. President, 
the distance around the gentleman is so great that it is im- 
possible to hear him unless he speaks louder ! " Of course, 
a roar of laughter followed, in which the eloquent three- 
hundred pounder joined. 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 36 

HOW TO GAIN CONFIDENCE. 



As bashfulness and want of confidence are prolific sources 
of stammering, and as what may at first be only temporary 
embarrassment may by frequent repetition degenerate into a 
habit of defective speech, we think the following remarks 
relative to the acquisition of confidence in one's self will 
be useful to many readers and quite appropriate here. 
"Cheeky" persons sometimes stammer and stutter, but 
many others do so from a lack of proper confidence. The 
following we copy from the Phrenological Journal of this 
city, whose editor is noted for his clear views on the sub- 
jects he treats, and his able manner of presenting them. 
He says : 

There is nothing which makes a young man appear more 
awkward than lack of confidence. There is nothing which 
gives ease and weight of character among strangers equal 
to an easy confidence in a proper use of one's powers. A 
modest young man who. has lived with his parents on a farm 
in the country may have a sound judgment, may have read 
science, history, and literature, and be well versed as to 
what the world has done, and who, in private conversation 
with intimate friends could make a good appearance and 
command the highest respect ; but if he should be unac- 
customed to society he will not know how to act or what to 
do with himself — will feel raw and ignorant, and of course 
will act uncouthly. Let the same young man go into an 
office or any public place, where he must receive company, 
answer questions, give information and directions, and in a 
year he will return to his native place so changed in man- 
ner, so easy in address, that he becomes a wonder to all his 
rural acquaintances. What has wrought the change ? 
Has he read ? No ! not in fact so much as he had done 
before. Has he conversed with men of profound wisdom ? 
Probably not, but he has acquired an easy use of his facul- 
ties by mingling with people who are accustomed not mere- 
ly to society, but to more intimate contact with mankind. 



36 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

Business men mingling with business men sharpen one 
another in faculty and power of using what one knows. It 
is with such as these that the young man has been trained 
for a year, and has acquired the ease and self-command so 
noticeable in his manner. This seems easy and simple to 
everybody. Let us apply it now to one's manner in public 
assemblies. 

Often when we tell youog gentlemen, in examinations, 
that they are qualified for public speakers, they start back 
with astonishment and in doubt, saying they are not able 
either to Ihink or speak before an audience. When we in- 
quire if they find any trouble with their power of speech 
in common conversation with common friends on subjects 
with which they are familiar, they generally answer, " Oh, 
no ! not the least ! ,? Now one needs use and practice 
before an audience as much as he does in general society. 
There is a kind of embarrassment incident to rising before 
an audience, even though it be small, to speak, which in 
itself is based on false premises. Children and youth 
are accustomed to hear the learned minister, in the sol- 
emnities of public worship, utter thoughts that seem to 
them great, profound, solemn, and they get such an ex- 
alted idea of the dignity and importance of public speaking 
— the destinies of two worlds seeming to hang upon the fit- 
ness, grandeur, and comprehensiveness of every sentence — 
that when they essay to speak, the thought of these tremen- 
dous considerations broods over them like a pall and bears 
them down like a burden. In school, also, they read the 
most profound essays on abstract subjects, from the sound- 
est writers in the world. Addison and Blair, Webster and 
Marshall, Watson and Wesley — models in composition — 
and why should not a green youth be startled at the idea of 
writing anything for the public or speaking before that 
public, either that which he has written, or meditated to be 
spoken. Subjects for public speaking for the young, as 
well as topics for what is called composition, should be 
something adapted to the capacity, culture, and knowledge 
of the writer or speaker. Suppose a man of common intel- 
ligence were called upon to write an essay, to read before an 
audience, on natural history, or on chemistry, or on inter- 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 37 

national law, would it not be natural for persons so called 
upon to think of Agassiz, and Silliman, of Marshall, and 
Sumner, and, with the diffidence originating in common 
sense, shrink from the task ? But ask a plain man to write 
something for plain men on a topic with which he is fa- 
miliar, one on which he could converse intelligently, and 
then the only question of success is, familiarity with put- 
ting one's thoughts on paper. 

We remember the school-boy who came home puzzled 
and alarmed in view of the requisition to write a composi- 
tion to be read in school. He " would stay at home from 
school on that day to avoid it ; ?; he would do almost 
anything, for he " did not know what to write about." We 
suggested to him to write a composition descriptive of a 
recent journey he had made, a dozen miles into the coun- 
try. After a few moments' reflection his eyes brightened 
and he responded, " Oh, yes ! I will put in about the rabbit 
I saw, and the dog that went chasing after him ; the broken 
bridge, the boys in the boat, and the little ducklings that 
were trying the water for the first time," and thus he enu- 
merated all the little incidents which had attracted his at- 
tention and interested him. He wrote his composition on 
this topic and used such language as he understood, such 
as expressed his views. When it was read before the 
school, composed of minds similar to his own, it created a 
profound sensation ,• every eye sparkled, every face was 
lighted with smiles. The teacher of course knew it was 
original, and had a just measure of the boy's capacity, and 
was interested. Perhaps it was the only composition in 
school which gave any measure of the original capacity of 
the writer, or his aptitude for composition. This was origi- 
nal, was his own thought, his own method of expressing 
what he knew, and it was on that account a decided suc- 
cess. From that day onward the boy never was puzzled 
about composition. He simply had to fall back on some- 
thing he knew without trying to write a profound essay on 
3ome great ethical virtue, some profound topic of philoso- 
phy or morals. What can be more ridiculous than for a 
twelve or fifteen-years-old lad, or less, to undertake to write 
a composition on virtue, religion, education, or filial duty ? 



38 SELF CUKE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

These are subjects for the theologian, metaphysician, for 
the magistrate, not for children. 

The same rule holds relative to speaking in public. 
Young men commit extracts from great orations ; they 
draw on Patrick Henry, John Adams, Daniel Webster, 
selecting the choicest, the most ornate passages, the grand- 
est flights of oratorio power, which of course is all very 
well ; but when the poor boy undertakes to debate in the 
lyceum, there is such a difference between his own talk and 
the oration he uttered the same day, that it sounds to him 
like the drumming on a tin pan, or like a penny whistle 
compared with a full orchestral band, and it sounds to 
others very much as it does to himself. Young men gene- 
rally think over their subject and get a few sentences, open- 
ing paragraphs, highly wrought, grandiloquent. These they 
repeat, and then come down to their own native self, and it 
is like a sleigh running from the snow suddenly upon bare 
ground. It instantly becomes "hard sledding," and the 
boy, in embarrassment, having sense enough to know 
that he is making a failure, overcome with confusion, seeks 
his seat amid the titter of his associates — who could not 
themselves do any better in his place — and especially of 
the girls, who are not expected to try. One such experi- 
ence frequently clips the wings for life of the incipient orator, 
who, properly taught, might stand among the best. 

To such young men let us say, give up the idea of " ora- 
tion , "rise to talk, not to "speak." Speaking is a bug- 
bear. Talking in public should be the aim. Let no young 
man who reads this rise in his place and say, "Mr. Chair- 
man, the subject of discussion which calls us together is one 
of such magnitude and import that I tremble in view of the 
vast responsibility imposed on those who would discuss it." 
Let him make no such portico to the diminutive edifice which 
is to succeed it, but let him say, " Mr. Chairman, the few 
thoughts I may offer shall be plain and direct. I know but 
little on the subject, and that little though perhaps equally 
known to all must be accepted on my part in the discus- 
sion ;" or let him begin by saying in a conversational, easy 
manner, without loftiness of voice or gesticulation, " The 
reasons why this question should be decided in the affirma- 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 39 

five appear to me to be," first, second, and third, and let 
these points be noted, perhaps, on the back of a card. A 
glance at each will remind the speaker what he desires to 
talk about, and let him dwell upon these points in their order 
so long as he can talk to his satisfaction. When he has said 
all he thinks of on the first point, take the second and third, 
and if, by that time, his mind warms up so that he can say 
something inspired by the occasion, let him say it. If he 
talks two minutes well he will get a reputation, and every 
one will wish he would continue two minutes longer. If 
he talks badly two minutes, nobody will reget the short- 
ness of his speech. He made but little pretension, he did 
what he started to do, he made no flourish of trumpets, and 
without display he entered, and without mortification he 
departed, and has succeeded. What he said was his own 
thought in his own words. The next time he is called 
upon, let him make his own little effort and retire ; he will 
soon get used to himself and acquire the habit of thinking 
when he is on his feet, and before an audience ; and finally 
he will become so used to thinking and speaking that he 
can think and speak better before a large audience than he 
could do alone. Use, habit, practice in public speaking, is 
to that department and to success in it precisely what prac- 
tice is in using tools in playing the piano, or anything we 
do, and finally comes to be done without thinking, or auto- 
matically. 

The remarks relative to the lyceum apply with equal 
force to religious meetings. Young persons think if they 
" speak in meeting " it should be with that breadth and ripe- 
ness which belong to the minister, or to some of the old 
and experienced members. We have heard some men, full 
of the love of God and man, who were ignorant even of 
common English, speak before a congregation with a sim- 
plicity, an unpretending plainness, but with that pathos and 
heartiness that was most overwhelming in its influence j 
whereas if the same thoughts had been uttered in rounded 
periods in polished language, it really would not have been 
half so effective. Its sincerity and earnestness were 
evinced by the plainness, even awkwardness of the speech. 
It should be remembered that it is the spirit of the speech, 



40 SELF CUEE OF STAMMEBING AND STUTTRING. 

not the polish or rounded beauty of it, which makes it ef- 
fective. Let it be remembered that the congregation is 
only a multiplication of individuals, and that a congrega- 
tion of a thousand persons is really no wiser than one man :, 
and remember also that if what is uttered be true and: 
plainly stated, it will be appreciated. If one man uttered 
ten facts in the multiplication table, though the simplest of 
the series, no matter what number of mathematicians may 
hear the utterance, each will recognize the truth, and if it 
is the highest truth the pupil can utter, he gets full credit 
for his effort. Never try to say something large, grand — 
something above yourself. Speak your own thoughts 
simply, plainly, and stop when you get through. Follow 
this up, and, like a child's walking, every effort giving 
strength, the use of the faculties will improve you. You 
have no right to be embarrassed in view of what you do if 
you do only that which you can do, and do it as well as you 
can. One other strong incentive to calmness in speaking 
in religious meetings should be the thought that we are 
doing a duty to God, not to man — that he knows whether 
we are responsible for one talent or for five, and whether 
we redeem properly our obligation — or do as well as we 
can. If, however, we try to feel that God is a loving father, 
not a tyrant, it will inspire confidence and lead us to forget 
fear. 

We remember a sound farmer, a man of excellent judg- 
ment, but who could not say a word in public. We re- 
member to have been in a school-district meeting with him, 
when a question came up for repairing and transformation 
of the school-house. It was a radical measure, and before 
the meeting was called to order he stood in the midst of 
the group and argued every point with earnestness and ef- 
fect; but so soon as, the meeting was called to order, and 
one of the members was put in the chair, and the rest 
were seated around the room, perhaps twenty in all, he 
could not say a word ; some of the rest could discuss the 
subject in its length and breadth while he would sit with his 
face red and angry, but not a word could he utter. When 
the measures were passed upon and the meeting was dis- 
solved, but not dispersed, he could stand up and quarrel on 



SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 41 

every point with earnestness and logical fitness. Now what 
is the difference between talking when all the men are silent 
and sitting, or when they all stand in a group around the in- 
dividual and there is no order in the discussion ? Then the 
man could keep the run of his thoughts whie half a dozen 
were interposing obstacles ; he could fight every point and 
every person and maintain his position. The truth is, there 
is something in coming to order, even with a group of ten 
men, which throws embarrassment over the mind of a ma- 
jority of unaccustomed speakers. 

We think it is the memory of the solemn church or the 
august court which lingers in the mind of the person ; where- 
as if he had been taught by the right kind of elocutionary 
instruction and practice, that speaking in public was only 
uttering plain thoughts in a plain manner, in short, talking, 
that high responsibility which acts on his mind as a bugbear 
relative to speaking in public would be dispelled. There- 
fore we say to young men, try to talk, not to make an ora- 
tion, and you will learn by talking to become orators, if you 
are ordained by organization to be such ; if not, you can, at 
least, be good talkers. As nothing is more ridiculous than 
a futile attempt at oratory, so nothing is more acceptable 
than a good, sensible, unpretending, straightforward, short, 
pithy talk, before any intelligent audience ; but remember 
that there is no error of public speaking so unpardonable as 
prolixity, everlastingness. Speak short and sharp, and plain, 
and stop. Ten thousand times better to say less than an 
audience desires, than to say one sentence more. He is the 
popular orator who, however long he may speak, is hailed 
with " Go on — go on \" 

Confidence, then, like skill, may be acquired by taking 
the proper course. " Practice makes perfect." Every 
school-boy ought to be taught both to read aloud, recite 
prose and poetry, write and read his own compositions, join 
a Bible class, a singing school, a debating club, and thus 
put himself in the way of improvement, and of " acquiring 
confidence." 

In this connection the experience of a clergyman whose 
eloquence has made him famous far and wide may come in 
place. In speaking of extempore preaching, the Rev. New- 



42 SELF CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING. 

man Hall recently said : " When I went to college it 
seemed to me I should never be able to say a word in public 
without writing. But I soon determined that if I was going 
to be a preacher, and particularly if I wanted to be anything 
like a successful preacher, I must form the habit of extem- 
porary address. So I went into my room, locked the door, 
placed the Bible before me on a mantel, opened it at ran- 
dom, and then on whatever passage my eye chanced to rest 
proceeded to deliver a discourse of ten minutes. This 
practice was kept up for an entire twelve months. Every 
day, for a whole year, ten minutes were given to that kind 
of speaking in my own room by myself. At first I found it 
very difficult to speak so long right to the point. But then 
if I couldn't talk on the subject I would talk about it — 
making good remarks and moral reflections — being careful 
to keep up the flow, and say something to the end of the 
term allotted for the exercise. At the end of the twelve 
months, however, I found I could not only speak with a good 
degree of fluency, but that I could hold myself strictly to 
the subject in hand. You take this course. Don't do your 
practising on an audience. That is outrageous. No man 
ought for a moment to think of inflicting himself on an as- 
sembly of people, until he has gone through a course of 
training, such as I have indicated, by himself. But you 
can learn to speak without notes if you will try. And 
surely if one is to be a minister of Christ he must be prepar- 
ed to meet these little emergencies, and multiplied opportu- 
nities for preaching the Gospel which are constantly 
arising, but which will not wait for one to write out his 
thoughts." 




TRAINING ANIMALS 



i 



A complete guide for amateur or professional trainers, explaining the most 
approved methods of the most celebrated and successful trainers, thoroughly 
initiating the reader into ail the secrets of the profession, exposing various 
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An Idea of the book may be gleaned from the following partial synopsis of a 
few oft ie chapters : 

Horse Taming and Horse Training. — How to"manage a horse, conquering 
vicious and breaking wild horses, kindness and firmness, curing stubborn 
disposition, the tamers tools, to teach a horse to stop, to teaci a hore to back, 
to make a horse follow you, to stand without holding, whip training, to drive 
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ning away, to instantly atop a runaway horse. 

Trick Horses. — Appliances used in teaching tricks, to teach ahorse to sit up, 
to kick at command, to answer questions, to jump, to stand erect, to «« pirou- 
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feign lameness, to walk over you, &c. 

Performing Dogs. — Simple tricks and training, to teach him his name, to leap, 
to walk erect, to dance, to jump rone, to sit and lie down at command, to 
beg, to give his paw, to sneeze, to speak for it, to fetch and carry, to bring you 
his tail in his mouth, to stand on a ball and roll it up and down a plank, to 
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And over twenty other chapters. Gives more information about training 
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Just published, and may be had of all booksellers, or by mail, post-paid, on 
receipt of price. Tiade supplied by News Companies and wholesale houses. 
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u The teachings are very clear, and the illustrations numerous, leaving nothing 
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" With all its precision, it is by no means a purely didactic work, but mingles 
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l *Th© courses commended must end in success."— i*7a£ of Our Union. 



HANEY'S JOURNAL 

FOR 1870. 

A Handsome 16 page, Illustrated Monthly Paper 
of Interesting and Profitable Matter, for 
Everybody in Town or Country. 

— *-♦+ 

Haney's Journal occupies a field entirely its own, competes with no other 
publication, and while we advise you to give up no accustomed paper to take 
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acter, but we shall aim to make every number just as good as possible ; we 
do not know that we can make a better paper than we have already, if we CAN 
we WILL. Among a few of the articles which will appear in the early num- 
bers of 1870, we may mention : 

THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS, a curious and in- 
teresting inquiry, embodying many strange facts and some novel theories, 
presenting much incidental information about Birds, Beasts, &c, which will 
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MONEY MAKING, embracing many things which wiU aid 
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PROFESSIONAL. ITEMS, improvements in trade pro- 
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GRAVEL WALL BUILDING AND CON- 
CRETE HOUSES. Practical instructions for this useful, cheap 
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PU2j2jLES, and interesting matters for the Young. We (J<"| AA 
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MAGIC, including some of the most marvelous facts of ancient and 
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Besides these, there will be a vast amount of interesting Miscellany, items 
for Farmers, Mechanics, Storekeepers, Manufacturers, and the Household. 
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matters from the vast stores of Natural History, Natural Philosophy, Chem- 
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We shall continue our series of Biographies of the Bich Men of the World, 
showing how they gained their wealth, and furnishing examples and keys to 
success, which cannot fail to prove useful to young men. Our exposures of 

HUMBUGS AND SWINDLES, 

which have already proved so popular and beneficial, will be kept up regu- 
larly, the author of the celebrated book "Rogues and Rogueries" being spe- 
cially engaged to investigate thoroughly, and fully show up all HUMBUGS 
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grand schemes of imposition are now under investigation. We anticipate 



I 

highly interesting developments. Our Notices to Correspondents will give a 
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it as good as possible, and merit the high favor it already enjoys. Our large 
circulation enables us to give each reader, at a small price, what costs us very 
much. Competent persons are employed upon each department, and in every 
respect the Journal will be first-class, and even if " only fifty cents a year," 
it is no " ax-grinder" advertising sheet, or trashy " scissors-and-paste" affair. 
It is not sectional or local, but designed for general circulation, and we en- 
deavor to exclude matters of only restricted interest. 

We don't want anybody to take Haney's Journal out of charity, but if you 
think it will pay you, we should be most happy to have you try it by sub- 
scribing for 1870. Remember, 

ONLY ^O OETSTTS JL YEAR. 



What ROBERT BONNER thinks of Haney's Journal : 

THE TROTTING HORSE AND HOW TO TRAIN HIM, is the title of a 
series of very interesting and instructive articles, by John Elderkin, now in 
course of publication in Haney's Jounbal. They are alone worth the price 
of the publication. — New York Ledger, Oct. 16th. 

What JAMES PARTON thinks of Haney's Journal : 

"I was one of your "pioneer" subscribers, and when years ago, I sent 
the money for my subscription, I predicted the success of Haney's Joubnal. 
I knew the public would appreciate a paper of such real excellence, and I am 
pleased to know I have proved a true prophet. I consider the Joubnal of to- 
day even better than in those early days, good as I believed it then." 

[James Parton. 

We might add many commendations from many sources — from those who 
have MADE money from its information, from those who have SAVED money 
through its exposures of humbugs, and from many who have derived pleasure 
and instruction from its pages. 



tgsflS. there is a newsdealer in your vicinity we prefer you should get the 
Journal of him. He will get it for you if requested to, even if he does not 
keep a supply on hand. The price is 5 cents a copy. If any trouble is ex- 
perienced in getting the Journal of dealers, the subscription price— 50 cents- 
may be sent us and the paper will be sent one year. In all cases where speci- 
mens are desired, the price must be sent. We send no gratuitous copies. No 
" premium lists" and but very slight inducements to club-raisers. Subscrip- 
tions may commence with any number — back numbers from January can be 
supplied, as we have complete electrotype plates. 

JESSE HANEY & CO., PuMisliei-s, 

119 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 
jggfDealers supplied at regular trade prices, by the news companies and al 1 
wholesale houses. The Joubnal sells steadily and quite largely in many lo- 
calities. 



Sample of M Opinions of the Press : " 

Haney's Joubnal. — This handsome periodical still pursues the even tenor 
of its way, furnishing its readers with a wonderful amount of interesting and 
valuable matter at a wonderfully small price. It has concluded the impor- 
tant series of papers on " Slow Horses made Fast," and continues in the No- 
vember number its sketches of " Rich Men and How they Became so." * 
* * * A sleepless enterprise, ransacking every region of literature, art 
and science, for novelties, is the secret of the very successful management of 
Haney's Joubnal. Engravings of superior excellence are strewn through its 
sixteen pages in lavish profusion, and form one of the chief attractions. For 
the younger portion of its constituencv there is a well-conducted puzzle de- 
partment and miscellany.— Newark, (N. J.) Daily Advertiser, Nov. 2d, 1SG9. 



ROGUES AND ROGUERIES. 

A aew, revised, and enlarged edition of this work baa 
just been issued, including, in addition to its former ex 
posures of fraud and rascality, full descriptions of alJ 
the new humbugs and swindles, so that the work now 
includes all the principal " dodges" by which the thought- 
less or unwary are victimised. " Rogues and Rogueries" 
has been the means of putting thousands upon their guard 
against the sharpers who so skillfully set their snares, and 
who so persistently prey upon the public. Fraud often 
lurks under the most innocent guise, and even the wisest 
and most cautious persons cannot always be certain that 
they will not be defrauded. Read this book before you 
send your money to any unknown person. Read it before 
you embark in any scheme, however plausible it may ap- 
pear. There will be no harm done, and you may, thereby, 
learn something of which you were not aware, and be 
saved the mortification and loss you might otherwise incur. 
All the tricks and traps of great cities, all swindles through 
the mails, jewelry and gift schemes, petroleum and mining 
swindles, quack doctors, lotteries and " policy" schemes, 
fortune-tellers, gamblers' tricks, patent safe dodge, matri- 
moDial advertisements, pocket-book dropping, thimble- 
rigging, concert saloons, love powders and dangerous cos- 
metics, situation agencies, sewing machine swindles, travel- 
ing swindlers, confidence operators, professional beggars, 
counterfeiters, and many other classes of sharpers too 
aumerous to mention. The book is both interesting and 
valuable in a rare degree. * 

" Its perusal will be attended not only with pleasure, but 
with profit." — Jersey City American Standard 

" A valuable and entertaining work on the tricks, traps, 
dangers, and temptations of the great metropolis. * * * 
To the uninitiated in mysteries of life in a large city, the 
" Rogues and Rogueries" will prove of unfailing interest." 
Watchman, Monticello, N, F. 

" New York and other cities are fall of traps for the 
(i green ? uns," and it is much better to know all about them 
than to incur the liability of buying the knowledge by ex- 
perience at a high figure. We therefore commend tins 
book to the uninitiated. — Yankee Blade, 

Illustrated. 

Price, only Twenty-five Cents. 



f 1 TXANEY'S GUIDE TO AUTHORSHIP, A 

2 rf* JLJL valuable aid to all who desire to engage in literary 

** -J pursuits of any kind, for pleasure or profit. Containing' 

&% o5 concise and practical instruction in the various kinds of 

Ik a ^ J; prose and poetic composition ; sensible advice on all points 

^ © a © where difficulty is usually encountered by inexperienced 

- j§ § S writers ; hints for overcoming natural defects and achieving 

3 © - Jj success ; in short sound and useful information on the 

^ © m various subjects pertaining to the art of authorship. The 

>»5 «S book also contains chapters on proof reading, punctuation, 

S'-gffl editing, estimates of the cost of printing and publishing, 

^^o preparation, value, and disposal of MS., copyrights and 

2 § ,© legal rights of authors and publishers, and other matter 



useful to professional and amateur writers. SO cents* 



§«-| "PHONOGRAPHIC HANDBOOK, FOR 

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£ e £ 

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l«l f^OMMON SENSE COOK BOOK, a reliable 

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g £ g The book contains a very large amount of matter for the 

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S| g -2 you cannot fail to find many things in this one amply worth 

° _fc « the price. 30 cts. 



I'd* 



i§Si XTANDBOOK OF VENTRILOQUISM, and 

ff© « _2 AX how to make the Magic Whistle. IS cts. 

Mi So M Really a valuable aid."— Boston Wide World.—" Will 

i "i 2* enable any one to produce the most wonderful vocal ilia* 

£a ® g sions."— iV. Y. >*itos. 

U g» § JESSE HANEY & CO., 119 Nassan-st, N. T. 



|3g "OAD MEMORY MADE GOOD AND A 

S la a "^ Goo<i Memory Made Better. This little volume will 

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tooS The following items, among its contents, will give an idea 

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1 %t poetry,. prose, reporting, extempore speaking, chapters and 
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o g S Piied to chemistry, grammar, geography, botany, with 
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||| TTANDBOOK OF DOMINOES.— THOSE 

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© anA the very popular European ones. IS cts- 



P © 



2 £ JESSE HANEY & CO., Publishers, 

|£ § 119 Nassau street, New York. 



JESSE HANEY & CO,, 119 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK, 

Will send, post paid, on receipt of price, any of the following- Good Books, or 
they may be ordered through any bookseller or newsdealer. 

* Guide to Authorship. — A practical instructor in all kinds of 

literary composition, prose and verse, with all kinds of useful information on such 
points as writers, whether experienced or not, generally desire assistance. It in- 
cludes punctuation, proof-reading, editing, preparation of MS., and its value and 
disposal, copyrights and customs in the trade, publishing and estimates for getting 
up books, pamphlets, sheet music, &c, with a vast amount of sensible and valuable 
information, just what writers want, and will save them time and money, to be had 
nowhere else. Enlarged and revised. Cloth, $1.00 ; paper covers, 50 cts. 

Phonographic Handbook. — An entirely new work for self-in- 
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of law and on the newspapers. It unites simplicity with thoroughness. 25 cts. 

Secrets "Worth Knowing.— A guide to the manufacture of 

hundreds of useful and salable articles, including patent mediciues, perfumery, 
toilet and dental articles, and many others easily made at trifling cost and selling 
readily at large profits, with many manufacturers' secrets, &c. «5 cts. 

Rogues and Rogueries. — An exposure of the snares and pitfalls 

of the great metropolis, and the multitude of devices for entrapping the unwary, 
including many of the operations practiced in other cities, and swindles through the 
mail. New, revised, and enlarged, illustrated edition now ready and selling by 
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Watchmakers' and Jewelers' Manual.— Giving the latest and 

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Painters' Manual. — Giving best methods and latest improve- 
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Horse Shoers' Manual. — Giving plain, practical directions with 

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Soap Makers' Manual. — A practical instructor in the manufac- 
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Bad Memory Made Good and a Good Made Better.— 

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Handbook of Ventriloquism.— A little work explaining all the 

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imitating birds, animals, &c. 15 cts. " 

' Comicalities, by Orpheus C. Kerr. — A capital work by this 

very popular American humorist. 150 illustrations. *5 cts. 



APR 3 i^G 



- h?fym 



